Sen. Bernie Sanders endorses Siegel in District 7, but his group endorses Bledsoe

While some endorsements clearly make a difference in political races, it is unclear how many Austin voters really care whether Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Mike Siegel or Gary Bledsoe in the City Council District 7 race. He endorsed Siegel. However, Our Revolution, the progressive grassroots organization started by Sanders, endorsed Bledsoe. Bledsoe’s campaign flyer features a picture of Bledsoe and Sanders together. The Siegel campaign criticized Bledsoe’s campaign on Tuesday, putting out a press release reiterating Sanders’ endorsement of Siegel and calling on Bledsoe to clarify that he had not been endorsed by Sanders. “There is no place in Austin politics for this kind of misleading communication. I call on Gary Bledsoe to clarify that he has not been endorsed by my friend, Senator Sanders,” he wrote.

Bledsoe campaign manager Mykle Tomlinson emailed the following statement to the Austin Monitor: “We said we are endorsed by Our Revolution and had a picture of Gary and Bernie from the rally. What it shows is that we are in line with Bernie’s Revolution. It’s a stretch for Mike to say we are claiming Bernie endorsed Gary. If that were the case under endorsements, we would have listed Bernie’s name.” Those endorsements include the Austin American-Statesman, Travis County commissioners Brigid Shea and Jeff Travillion, along with Central Austin Democrats, Black Austin Democrats and Austin Tejano Democrats. The Sierra Club endorsed both candidates.

Tomlinson added, “I think what we are seeing is a candidate in Siegel who thought he would be able to walk away with an Austin city council seat, now realizing that he has some real competition and is grasping at straws to figure out how to respond to a true Austin Progressive who has been working in the community for 40+ years.”

Siegel has a lengthy list of endorsements, including The Austin Chronicle, AFSCME Local 1624, a variety of unions, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar and Council members Zo Qadri and José Chito Vela, among others.